


Family Resemblance

by JohnAmendAll



Category: Wylder's Hand - J. Sheridan Le Fanu
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-03
Updated: 2016-08-03
Packaged: 2018-07-29 04:29:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 562
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7670107
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JohnAmendAll/pseuds/JohnAmendAll
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dorcas sees something of her late husband in Rachel.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Family Resemblance

**Author's Note:**

> From a 'Domestic pairings' meme; prompt was "Dorcas Brandon / Rachel Lake - shopping"

"Please, will you wait in here?" the proprietress of the dress shop asked. "I'm sure it'll only take me a minute to find the very blouse you were speaking of." 

She fussed out of the room, leaving Dorcas and Rachel alone. Unhurriedly, Dorcas began to unbutton her black jacket. 

"You don't mind waiting, Radie?" she said. "I fear Mrs Ellaby's minute may easily become ten or fifteen." 

Rachel shook her head. "I am entirely at your disposal." She helped Dorcas out of her jacket, and set the garment down on a chair. "And it will be a treat to me to see you in something other than--" She caught herself, and blushed. Dorcas had been married to Rachel's brother, and Rachel had been sure that Stanley's death had been the greatest grief either had suffered. Yet now, she had almost expressed a wish that their period of mourning should be curtailed. How could she have formed such an idea? 

She looked across at Dorcas, to see how her one-time sister-in-law had reacted. But Dorcas, presently occupied with the fastenings of her blouse, seemed not to have noticed. 

"Radie, could you help me?" she asked. "I fear this button has somehow become entangled: I cannot undo it." 

Rachel hurried over and gave the button her full attention. It had by some ill chance become caught up in a stray thread; a simple enough matter to disentangle, for a friend with nimble fingers, but far less so for Dorcas herself. Rachel pulled off her gloves, and in a very few moments had the troublesome button undone. With a sigh of relief Dorcas pulled the blouse off, revealing an expensive corset, bare shoulders, and ample evidence that the perfection of her beauty was not restricted to her face. 

"Radie?" 

With a jerk, Rachel recalled herself. How long had she been staring? 

"I am sorry," she muttered. "A moment's distraction..." 

Dorcas shook her head. "I have often seen that expression on Stanley's face," she said. There was a new note in her voice, as if her partial disrobing had caused similar veils of convention to fall away in her mind. "I had not thought to see it on yours, but the surprise is a pleasant one." 

Rachel felt her hand taken in both of Dorcas's, and gently pressed to Dorcas's barely-clad bosom. 

"I see the resemblance extends further," Dorcas went on, dreamily. "Will you kiss me, Rachel?" 

They had kissed often enough as friends, but Rachel felt oddly hesitant -- as if she was about to step over a threshold into a dark, unknown room. Nonetheless, she put her free arm around Dorcas's neck, leaned forward, and pressed her lips to Dorcas's. 

How long they would have remained like that, Rachel could not have said. In the event, Mrs Ellaby's footstep was heard outside the door, and by the time that good lady had made her entrance, Rachel was once more at a safe distance from her friend, her thoughts in turmoil and her face somewhat flushed. 

  


"On reflection," Dorcas remarked, as they left Mrs Ellaby's establishment, "I am not sure I made the correct choice." 

Rachel gave her a blank look. "The necklace?" 

"No, Radie, not the necklace." Dorcas slipped her arm through Rachel's, and lowered her voice. "Marrying your brother and not you. Still, I believe we have the time and opportunity to rectify that."


End file.
